Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the of Communist Party, may follow his protege Bo Xilai in being expelled from his Party posts. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

Sixteen veteran Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres signed an open letter to China’s leader Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and published it online on May 9.

The author of the letter, Yu Yongqing, confirmed its authenticity in a telephone interview with The Epoch Times.

The letter makes several requests regarding Zhou Yongkang, including his removal from the Standing Committee; removal from his position as secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC); for Zhou to admit to wrongdoing in the persecution of Falun Gong; for Zhou to resign all other positions including Party membership; and for Zhou to be investigated by the Central Discipline Commission.

Zhou controls all of China’s internal security forces through his position on the PLAC, and he is one of only nine members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the highest organ of power in the regime. Rumors emerged in March that he had—along with the recently disgraced and ousted Bo Xilai—plotted a coup to thwart the rise of Xi Jinping and then install Bo into the heart of power in China.

Bold Move

The petitioners’ letter is especially noteworthy because they point directly at a man who has the power to make them disappear.

“Usually such letter writers will make general requests, such as asking for political reform,” said commentator Zhang Tianliang. “That one person is singled out is quite rare.”

The letter also requests the removal of Liu Yunshan from his position as minister of the Central Propaganda Department, and to prevent him from attending the upcoming meeting of the Standing Committee at the 18th National People’s Congress.

Liu Yunshan, who is viewed by most as part of Hu Jintao’s faction within the Party, is one of 10 candidates considered ready to join the Standing Committee.

Crimes of Mao and Successors

The 16 signatories from Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, enumerated the crimes of Mao Zedong and his successors. They also exposed Zhou and Bo Xilai’s intention to restore the Cultural Revolution and their planned coup in Chongqing.

Yu said, “In a variety of movements, the intellectuals and farmers have been brutally repressed. After the torments of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in China, his successors Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin are responsible for the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and current persecution of Falun Gong.”

Yu believes that these events ruined China’s future and said that the perpetrators should be held accountable. The government must vindicate the persecuted people, Yu said. If the CCP doesn’t change, people will rise up and overthrow it.

Another petitioner, Wu Zhibo, said he thinks that Beijing knew that Zhou supported Bo Xilai. He also said that China should not go back to the dark and lawless days of the Cultural Revolution.

The letter pointed out instead of seriously criticizing the Cultural Revolution, the crimes committed by Mao Zedong, and eliminating its lingering influence, Party Central still upholds Mao’s ideology as guiding ideology and has fabricated fake history to hide his crimes. For example, Mao’s statue still stands in Tiananmen Square.

The letter said that Mao’s ideology has played a fundamental role in China’s current political struggle and the political intrigue concocted by former Chongqing Party secretary Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang. If not for former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun’s failed defection attempt at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, China would have to face unimaginable consequences, says the letter.

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